This is according to Finance MEC, Gadija Brown, who was tabling the Free State's 2021/22 adjustment budget in Bloemfontein on Friday. 

Now, this is just a share of the R1,5 billion received by the Free State from the national branch of government. 

Brown urges the departments that have received the rollovers – including health – to expedite the spending of these funds for the projects and programmes they were intended for. 

At the top of the year, the education and health departments were allocated over R15,4 billion and R12,135 billion respectively. They received the biggest chunks of the budget at that stage.

In September, OFM News reported that Kagisanong Clinic in Bloemfontein had, based on patient responses given to the Ritshidze healthcare project, been rated the most understaffed clinic in the Free State. The report by Ritshidze – a community-led monitoring system developed by several HIV-related organisations like the Treatment Action Campaign, Positive Action Campaign and Positive Women’s Network, amongst others – found that the Hoopstad and Welkom clinics are ranked the second and third most understaffed clinics by patients. 

Ritshidze Project Manager, Mary Nyathi, says stock-outs of fixed-dose combination antiretroviral medication in addition to a shortage of nursing and support staff are some of the biggest issues impacting the functionality of clinics in the province.

“You find that when clinics are really short-staffed, tempers go all over the place. Most facility staff members are agitated because of the pressure they’re put under,” says Nyathi. She further reveals that in one instance, a facility manager was reduced to tears, because of the lack of support staff i.e. cleaners, which had resulted in her now having to clean the clinic herself daily before diving into her actual work. 

According to Ritshidze’s data (About Ritshidze - Ritshidze)  for April to June 2021, 79% of facility managers like the one referred to by Nyathi, concede there is a lack of staff in the clinics they head, with 26 vacancies observed across 20 of the sites monitored by the project’s team. Cleanliness has also been mentioned as another prevailing issue affecting Free State clinics, in light of a lack of cleaners.

50% of the primary healthcare facilities under observation by the project are said to not have enough cleaners with 18% of the cleaners officially registering cleaner vacancies. This is deemed to impact the rendering of healthcare to residents in the province quite severely, especially those who are HIV positive.

Now the project recommends that by March 2022 the Free State Health Department should aim to fill 80% of the existing vacancies. It remains to be seen if they will be able to do that.

OFM News